SurviveJS — Webpack
From apprentice to master

After weeks failing at configuring webpack, I stumbled upon SurviveJS book while looking for yet another tutorial. Since that day, it has been my go-to resource for every single webpack question I ever had.
Clément Paris
Clément Paris
Front-end Engineer
Brilliant! A must have if you want to to learn webpack but also if need an updated reference guide. I always use it as a reference guide when I develop.
Andrea Chiumenti
Andrea Chiumenti
CEO, Red Software Systems
Before I worked through the SurviveJS webpack book, my own webpack config, cobbled together from random code on the Internet, was a mystery to me. Afterwards, I have route-splitting and parallel-loading superpowers.
Gavin Doughtie
Gavin Doughtie
Senior Software Engineer, Google

About the book

Webpack book cover

SurviveJS – Webpack 5 is meant for beginner to intermediate users of webpack. Webpack is a powerful bundler that can simplify the creation of complex web applications.

I designed this book to help you get up to speed with the tool. The book project started early 2015 from a small wiki effort and has since evolved into a complete guide to webpack.

During this process I have become a core developer of webpack while learning a lot about it. In this book I share what I have learned during these years with you.

Webpack, a module bundler, is a powerful tool that helps you to develop complex web applications. It enables techniques, such as code splitting. You could say it solves the fundamental problem of web development and it has allowed developers to reach new levels of productivity.

What Will You Learn

The book would not have been possible without constant feedback by the community around the book. It has been developed to contain solutions to most bundling related problems you might encounter. You can see the book as a complement to the official documentation which I helped to create. By reading the book, you will develop an extensive configuration you understand.

If you happen to know webpack well already, there is still something there for you. I took care to write summaries and a conclusion chapter that allows you to refresh your knowledge. The book chapters are short and discuss webpack from different angles while helping you to learn more about the tool and related techniques.

Getting the Book

The easiest way to get started with the material is to check out the free online edition. If you like it, purchase a digital copy of the book. The digital edition comes in three formats (epub/mobi/pdf) and makes you eligible for future updates. You also get a cheatsheet and posters (pdf) covering the core ideas of webpack and a QA with Tobias Koppers (PDF) where the author of the tool answers tough questions.

About a third of the income goes to Tobias Koppers, the author of webpack. This is my way of saying thanks and supporting his effort. Since I'm a webpack core developer as well, you help me to spend more time on the project too.

There's a Gitter chat for support. You can check out the project at GitHub and support webpack directly through Open Collective.

Buy at Leanpub Buy at Amazon Buy for Kindle Read for free

About the Author

Juho Vepsäläinen Juho Vepsäläinen is behind the SurviveJS effort. He has been active in the open source scene since the early 2000s and participated in projects like Blender and webpack as a core team member.

Juho lives in Rautalampi, Finland, and was chosen as the Finnish Code Ambassador of 2017 by Blue Arrow Awards. He is the director of React Finland.

Getting the Books

Even though all the books are freely available on the web, it can be convenient to purchase the digital copies. To make this simple, I've created a specific bundle containing all the books for a discounted price.

Buy all books in a Leanpub bundle

Training

I offer training around the content. See the training page for more details.

Translations

The React book is also available in Spanish.

Webpack is powerful but configuring it can be painful. Same goes with React. There are so many ways of configuring React with asset compilation, minification etc that it is easy to get lost. This book provides practical tips on how to proceed.
Neeraj Singh
Neeraj Singh
Founder, Big Binary
This guide was a great starter in taming the Wild West of ESNext-era JavaScript development. Its beauty comes from its commitment to not skipping the fundamentals in favor of a fast demo, but making sure you're understanding what you're doing as you bootstrap your next JavaScript-based UI project.
Aaron Harris
Aaron Harris
Software Engineer

This guide is a great way to get started with webpack or improve your existing skills.

After a detailed introduction, you'll start working on a webpack project that provides all you need to push your app to production. Highly recommended.

Julien Castelain
Julien Castelain
Software Engineer, Liferay
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